US President Donald Trump on Monday issued an executive order declaring fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction.
The drug and similar synthetic opioids have been blamed for tens of thousands of deaths in the US, with the toll rising past 48,000 in 2024.
"Illicit fentanyl is closer to a chemical weapon than a narcotic," the executive order reads. "Two milligrams, an almost undetectable trace amount equivalent to 10 to 15 grains of table salt, constitutes a lethal dose."
The order added that the drug poses a threat to US national security and fuels "lawlessness" across the Western Hemisphere.
"The production and sale of fentanyl by Foreign Terrorist Organisations and cartels fund these entities' operations – which include assassinations, terrorist acts and insurgencies around the world – and allow these entities to erode our domestic security and the well-being of our nation," it said.
The order said that the potential for the drug to be used as a weapon for concentrated, large-scale terror attacks "is a serious threat to the United States".
There had been growing calls in the Trump administration and allies to designate fentanyl as a WMD. In Congress, Representative Lauren Boebert introduced a bill to do so last year, and Attorney General Pam Bondi in May referred to the drug as a WMD that was "flooding our cities".
The executive order comes as the US continues to carry out strikes on fast boats in the Caribbean alleged to be carrying fentanyl and other drugs. The strikes have killed about 90 people.
The US has military assets in the region, off the coast of Venezuela, the government of which has been accused of direct involvement in the regional drug trade.
